Bembridge, England, United Kingdom

Bembridge Ledge

Bembridge Ledge is a long limestone reef extending east from the Isle of Wight's eastern tip into the busy shipping lanes of the eastern English Channel. The ledge runs in a series of stepped reefs, gullies and small caverns at 5 to 15 metres on a clean rock and sand bottom and is one of the most accessible boat dives in the central English Channel. The reef has a long history of shipwrecks, with debris of multiple steel hull plates, propeller shafts and anchors scattered along its length. The structure is densely covered with plumose anemones, dead man's fingers, sponges, hydroids and pink coralline algae, with kelp forests on the shallower margins. Resident species include ballan wrasse, corkwing wrasse, pollack, bib, conger eels, tompot blennies, edible crabs, spider crabs and lobsters. Visibility ranges from 4 to 8 metres and water temperatures vary between 9 and 17 degrees Celsius. Currents over the reef are moderate and dives are timed around slack water from Bembridge charter boats.